Data center coming to south metro area

$20 million project gets tax break, fee waivers

An artist's rendering of the new data center OneNeck IT Solutions is building in Douglas County.

Staff report

Posted
5/22/14

With preparations nearly complete, an Arizona-based IT firm is preparing to break ground on a 35,000-square-foot data center in unincorporated Douglas County.

OneNeck IT Solutions announced plans for a new $20 million, Tier 3+ data center on May 20. The data center will be built on 11.2 acres of land on Concord Center Drive, located south of Centennial Airport in the northern part of the county.

Once open, in early 2015, it will be the seventh data center owned and operated by OneNeck in the U.S.

“We are excited to make this additional investment in the Denver area,” said Phil LaForge, OneNeck president and CEO. “Our data center will be built to withstand natural disasters, which means area businesses can rest assured their IT infrastructure is safe, protected, and always accessible in our new Tier 3+ data center.”

The multi-phase project is designed for rapid expansion, in up to five phases, totaling 160,000 square feet. It will also be able to support data center modules. The project leverages a personal property tax rebate and construction fee waivers provided by the Douglas County commissioners.

“In an effort to continue strategically supporting investing in projects that provide a strong economic foundation for Douglas County, we are proud to support OneNeck in this endeavor,” Commissioner Jill Repella said.

About 30 local companies will be involved in the construction of the building. Denver-area contractor JE Dunn Construction will coordinate the project with support from INVISION Architecture, Faith Technologies and North American Mechanical.

“We believe in providing an environment where businesses can succeed. For this reason, it is a pleasure to team up with OneNeck on their data center build, a project that will certainly add to our community's economic growth,” Repella said.

When the doors open in 2015, the data center will resemble other OneNeck data centers in the Midwest. This facility will support common compliance requirements and will also include many state-of-the-industry features, such as: three-factor security authentication, including iris scanners for personnel identification; up to 16-inch-thick steel-reinforced concrete walls, roof and floors; VESDA fire detection system; Tier 4 electrical system with multiple levels of redundancy and backup; and an energy-saving cooling design.

The facility will also deploy ReliaCloud to provide businesses with local cloud storage, LaForge said.

“We appreciate the county board's support and trust in us,” LaForge added. “We look forward to maximizing this opportunity and, ultimately, to making it an economic success for the county, area businesses and OneNeck.”

The announcement follows the October 2013 news that MSN Communications, based in Arapahoe County's Inverness area, was being acquired by Telephone and Data Systems. The acquisition and then unification as part of the OneNeck IT Solutions master brand adds to the company's strategic direction, which includes building its Tier 3 data center portfolio and delivering tailored end-to-end IT solutions.